Latitude	53.867
Longitude	-1.911
Official name	Keighley
population	74,098
population ref	()()
Os grid reference	SE058412
Metropolitan borough	City of Bradford
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Country	England
Post town	KEIGHLEY
Postcode area	BD
Postcode district	BD20, BD21, BD22
Dial code	01535
Constituency westminster	Keighley
Static image
Static image caption	North Street, Keighley }}

Keighley ( ) is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth. The town area, which is part of the Brontë Country, has a population of 51,429 (2001 Census), making it the third largest civil parish in England.

Keighley lies in a fold between the countryside of Airedale and Keighley Moors. The town is the terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage steam branch line which has been restored and runs through the Worth Valley to Oxenhope via Oakworth and Haworth.

History

The name Keighley, which has gone through many changes of spelling throughout its history, is accepted to mean "Cyhha's farm or clearing" and was mentioned in the Domesday Book, ''"In Cichhelai (Keighley), Ulchel, and Thole, and Ravensuar, and William had six carucates to be taxed."''

Henry de Kighley, a Lancashire knight, was granted a charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 by King Edward I. The poll tax records of 1379 show population of Keighley, in the wapentake of Staincliffe in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was 109 people (47 couples and 15 single people).

The town's industries have typically been in textiles, particularly wool and cotton processing. In addition to the manufacture of textiles there were several large factories making textile machinery. Two of these were Dean, Smith & Grace and Prince, Smith & Stell. The former operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precision lathes, until 2008.

The 1842 Leeds Directory description of Keighley reads ''"Its parish had no dependent townships though it is about six miles long and four broad, and comprises 10,160 acres of land (including a peaty moor of about 2,000 acres) and a population which amounted, in the year 1801, to 5,745."''

The town became a municipal borough in 1882, but was merged into the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford in 1974 under the Local Government Act. The merger caused a lot of bitterness among Keighley people who resented being 'taken over' by Bradford and accused the city's council of neglecting the town. Civil parish status was restored to Keighley in 2002, providing it with its own town council. The council's 30 members elect a mayor from amongst their number once a year.

Geography

Keighley lies at the confluence of the River Worth and River Aire in Airedale, in the south Pennines. Its northern boundary is with Bradley and its southern limit is the edge of Oxenhope. To the west, the town advances up the hill to the suburb of Black Hill and in the east it terminates at the residential neighbourhoods of Long Lee and Thwaites Brow. The outlying northeastern suburb of Riddlesden is sometimes referred to as a separate village, but is part of the town.

Past Black Hill and via Braithwaite Edge Road lies Braithwaite Village which leads to Laycock, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Laycock is a conservation area which overlooks the hamlet of Goose Eye.

The River Aire passes through north eastern Keighley, dividing the neighbourhood of Stockbridge and running roughly parallel to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The Worth links up with the Aire in Stockbridge and runs south westerly, dividing eastern Keighley from central and western districts of the town. The Worth is lined with abandoned, semi-derelict industrial sites and tracts of waste ground dating from the period when Keighley thrived as a major textile centre.

Parts of Keighley are prone to flooding and the town was particularly badly hit in by floods 2000. Since then, millions have been spent on strengthening flood defences.

Other outlying villages around the town are Oakworth, Cross Roads, Haworth, Stanbury and Oxenhope. The two main settlements to the north are Silsden and Steeton. Although these villages are often referred to as separate places they are part of the wider Keighley area. These areas add a total of 22,669 to the Keighley area, taking the population of the wider Keighley area up to 74,098(2001 Census.

To the north east is Rombald's Moor which contains many signs of stone age and bronze age occupation including cup and ring marks, and as it drops back down into Wharfedale and the town of Ilkley, approximately five miles away, becomes the more famous Ilkley Moor.

Demography

!colspan=11
Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
!Population	5,745	6,864	9,223	11,176	13,413	18,259	18,819	24,704	30,395	36,176

Census population of the municipal borough of Keighley
Year	1901	1911	1921	1931	1939 †	1951	1961	1971
!Population	41,564	43,487	41,921	40,441	56,631	56,944	55,845	55,325

† The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration Act figures. The 1941 census did not take place because of the Second World War.

Amenities

The 'Airedale Centre', is a large indoor shopping precinct which houses most of the town's high street retailers such as Marks and Spencer and other retailers such as Next, Dorothy Perkins and New Look. Much of the town centre has been pedestrianised. Keighley has three large supermarkets, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Asda which opened in 2009. There are several budget supermarkets such as Aldi situated in small retail parks around the town. Keighley benefits from an electrified railway service with connections to Leeds, Bradford, Shipley, Bingley, Skipton, Carlisle and Morecambe and the Keighley and Worth Valley railway is a heritage steam railway, which links the town with Haworth, Oakworth and the Bronte Country.

Religion

Keighley has a parish church (St. Andrew's Shared Church) and is home to many Christian denominations. It has churches and places of worship for Anglicans, Methodists, United Reformed, Mormons, Quakers, Salvation Army and Jehovah's Witnesses. Keighley has a significant Roman Catholic minority established in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Irish immigrants who came to work in the textile and weaving industries. Keighley has three Roman Catholic churches (St Anne's 1840, St Joseph's 1934 and Our Lady of Victories 1939) and four Roman Catholic schools (St Anne's 1857, St Joseph's 1922, Our Lady of Victories 1960 and Holy Family 1964).

The first spiritualist church in Britain was founded at Keighley in 1853 by David Richmond, who although not originally from the town, stayed for many years, and helped to establish the movement throughout the country. Spiritualism died out after the Second World War, but the Keighley church remains open.

Muslims make up the second largest religious group in the town. According to the 2001 census there were about 8,000 Muslims in Keighley. Most had come to Britain in the 1960s from the Mirpur region of Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan, and the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. As of 2011 there were seven mosques in Keighley, including the purpose-built Markazi Jamia Masjid ('Central Community Mosque') in Emily Street, and the Ghosia Mosque, in Cark Road.

There is a Buddhist centre on Lawkholme Crescent, in the town centre. The Keighley Kadampa Buddhist Centre is used by lay and ordained Buddhist practitioners and also runs day and evening classes for newcomers to the faith.

Architecture

Like many other British towns and cities, Keighley was extensively remodelled in the 1960s and lost many historic buildings. However, the town managed to retain some of its heritage and has many Victorian buildings. The local millstone grit gives many of the buildings a distinctive look.

East Riddlesden Hall, Cliffe Castle Museum and Whinburn Mansion are fine, country houses. There are large town houses along Skipton Road which contrast with the cramped rows of terraces in the streets behind them.

The town's central library was the first Carnegie Library in England opened in 1904 with a grant of £10,000 from Andrew Carnegie. The library has undergone refurbishment which was completed in 2007. Many of the town's former mill buildings are still intact.

The town centre contains modern buildings such as Leeds City College and examples of Victorian commercial architecture, including the long terrace of Cavendish Street with its 200 metre ornamental canopy. There is an award winning bus station which opened in 2002 near the Airedale Shopping Centre. There are several tower blocks in Parkwood Rise, Holycroft and Ingrow and a central multi-storey car park.

Amongst the modern houses in Laycock, outside Keighley town centre is a 17th century three-storey manor house (which is said to be the former wing of a much bigger property), converted barns and 18th century cottages.

Local attractions

On the outskirts of town is Cliffe Hall, also known as Cliffe Castle, now Keighley Museum. Keighley is the location of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage railway that passes through Haworth (part of the Brontë Country, home of Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë) and terminates at Oxenhope. At Ingrow is the Museum of Rail Travel.

Top Withens and the Brontë Waterfall are within walking distance of Stanbury, a mile and a half from Haworth. East Riddlesden Hall is close to Keighley.

Education

Local schools are University Academy Keighley (UAK) in Utley, Oakbank School, Parkside Comprehensive School in Cullingworth and The Holy Family Catholic School. These schools are for pupils aged 11 to 18.

The Keighley campus of Leeds City College was located at the junction of North and Cavendish Streets in the town centre. However, this further and higher education college has had a new campus built in Dalton Lane, which opened its doors to staff and students in September 2010. The college includes a nationally acclaimed 'Star Centre' facility, designed to encourage more young people to study maths and science. This features a mock mission control centre, a planetarium, a simulated rocky planet surface and many other space-related items.

Sport and entertainment

Keighley Cougars RLFC are based at Royd Ings Avenue and as of 2010 they will play in the top domestic league, the Co-operative Championship. The ground's traditional name is Lawkholme Lane but has more recently been named Cougar Park. Keighley RUFC are based at Rose Cottage, Utley and play in Yorkshire league one.

Keighley is home to the Timothy Taylor Brewery, the makers of several, Campaign for Real Ale, Champion Beer of Britain award-winning ales such as Landlord, Taylor's Best Bitter and Golden Best.

Keighley has a popular local music scene. There have been various venues where local bands play. Most notable was the now defunct CJ's bar (also known as Chrome, VW's, Cheese and Trumpet) that played host to many popular touring bands. Examples of local bands are The Sailmakers, Random Hand,The Get Guns, Dead Message, Control Is Dead and Eyesore Angels. The British rock bands Skeletal Family and Terrorvision were also originally formed in Keighley.

Keighley Picture House, a cinema on North Street opened in 1913 making it one of the oldest in Britain. A brief closure in the mid-1990s prevented it from being listed as one of the oldest in continuous operation - a record that goes to the Curzon Cinema which opened in Clevedon, Somerset in 1911 .

The Airedale Shopping Centre houses a statue of the giant Rombald holding a boulder above his head. According to local legend the giant Rombald threw a giant rock at his enemies (or in some versions of the tale his wife) killing them. The rock is the "calf" of "cow and calf" rock fame which can be seen today at the top of Rombald's Moor on Ilkley Moor.

In film

Keighley was the setting for the film ''Blow Dry'' starring Josh Hartnett, Alan Rickman, and Bill Nighy. ''Blow Dry'' opens with the announcement that the small town of Keighley will host the year 2000 British Hair Championships. Keighley's mayor (Warren Clarke) is thrilled about the news, but when he announces it to the town's press, they all yawn disapprovingly. The film although set in Keighley was shot in several locations.

The 2004 documentary Edge of the City, about the City of Bradford social services, and the people and problems they deal with, was partly filmed in Keighley, and concerned sexual abuse of underage white girls by some Asian men.

Most of the 2004 film ''Yasmin'' was shot in Keighley. Written by Simon Beaufoy and mostly filmed in Lawkholme, it tells the story of a British Muslim woman who has her life disrupted by the impact of the September 11 attacks on America. Mr Beaufoy said the film was originally set in Oldham, Greater Manchester, but "worked its way across the Pennines".

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR), running steam trains from Keighley to Haworth and Oxenhope, has been used in several films, including ''The Railway Children'', ''Yanks'', and the film of the Pink Floyd musical ''The Wall''.

A great part of the 2004 BBC television drama ''North and South'' was shot on Keighley, with Dalton Mill being one of the serial's main locations.

''A Touch of Frost'' starring David Jason was also filmed at the railway line close to Ingrow West.

The 1950s set British feature film ''Between Two Women'' (2000) was filmed extensively in and around Keighley and its mills, in particular around the railway and close to the main town railway station. The same director's next film ''The Jealous God'' (2005) also featured Keighley railway station and nearby streets.

Christopher Ingham

Utley cemetery contains the grave of Christopher Ingham, a veteran of the conflict against Napoleon. He was a member of the Duke of Wellington's elite 95th Rifle Regiment and fought in ten battles against the French in Spain, France and Belgium including the Spanish Peninsula War and the Battle of Waterloo, for which he was awarded several medals, including the Peninsula Medal. He died in 1866. Some local historians believe Mr Ingham's heroism may have inspired the author Bernard Cornwell's saga about Major Richard Sharpe. The TV series episode ''Sharpe's Justice'', which focuses on the roots of the title character, is set in and around Keighley.

Notable people with Keighley links

The following people were born in Keighley, have lived there in the past or are currently resident in the town.

Ian Dewhirst, Former librarian of Keighley MBE local historian.

Simon Beaufoy, An Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe award-winning British screenwriter who was born in Keighley

Gordon Bottomley, a Victorian era poet (1874–1948) was born and educated in Keighley

Brontë Sisters, lived in the village of Haworth, which is two miles (3 km) south of Keighley

* Anne (17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849)

* Charlotte (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855)

* Emily (30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848)

Alastair Campbell, former Labour party spin doctor who was born in Keighley

John Tiplady Carrodus (1836–1895) was a violinist

Kiki Dee, successful singer-songwriter, originally from Bradford, whose career spanned 40 years

Jake Wright, professional footballer who plays for Oxford united

Peter Hartley, former county cricketer for Warwickshire and Hampshire

Denis Healey, a prominent Labour party politician who has previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Defence

Mike Hellawell, professional footballer who made two appearances for England and also played for Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers and Sunderland

Trevor Hockey, Welsh international footballer, who also played with Bradford City and Birmingham City

Sir Isaac Holden, 1st Baronet (1807–1897) was an inventor and manufacturer, known for lucifer matches, and served as Liberal MP for Keighley 1888–1895

Paul Hudson, a local television weather forecaster was born in the town

Saima Hussain, first Asian female rugby player to represent Great Britain

Keith Jessop, a famous salvage diver and successful marine treasure hunter

Peter Judson, a former boxer who challenged for the British featherweight title in the 1990s

Henry de Kighley, granted the first charter to hold a market in Keighley on 17 October 1305 by King Edward I

John Kilcoyne, a star of the television programme Brainiac: Science Abuse was born and raised in Keighley

Dougie Lampkin, born Silsden is an internationally renowned motorcycle trials rider

Tommy Lee, who is a goalkeeper for Macclesfield Town

Peter Mayhew, British actor who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, lived in Keighley between 1987 and 2000

Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, or R. A. Nicholson, (Keighley, 18 August 1868 — Chester 27 August 1945) was an eminent English orientalist, scholar of both Islamic literature and Islamic mysticism, and widely regarded as one of the greatest Rumi scholars and translators in the English language.

George Nicholson (1760–1825), printer, was born in Keighley

Eric Pickles, a former Chairman of the Conservative Party was born in the town

Claire Rayner, (1931–2010) a television agony aunt who lived in Keighley as an evacuee during the Second World War

Michael Sams murderer

Geoff Smith, a former Bradford City goalkeeper, lives in Keighley

Philip Snowden The first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was born in the Colne Valley. He was also the editor of the Keighley Labour Journal and in 1906 became the MP for Blackburn.

Mollie Sugden (1922–2009), television comedy actress

Sir John Taylor, Baron Ingrow, Lord Ingrow, (1917–2002) a soldier and politician. From 1985 to 1992 he was Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire

Timothy Taylor, local brewer who opened the Timothy Taylor Brewery in 1858

Percy Vear, (12 July 1911 – 16 March 1983), was a British Professional Boxer during the 1920s and 1930s

Ricky Wilson, of Leeds five-piece Kaiser Chiefs, is a native of Keighley

Margaret Wintringham (1879–1955), the second woman to take a seat in the House of Commons

Leigh Marklew, of Bradford rock band Terrorvision, is a native of Keighley

Frank Whitcombe (1913–1958) Bradford Northern & Great Britain International Rugby League player

Frank Whitcombe Jr (1936–2010) Bradford RFC Yorkshire RUFC & North Eastern Counties RUFC

Martin Whitcombe Leicester Tigers, Yorkshire RUFC & England 'B' International Rugby Union player.

Opinions about Keighley

The town was mentioned in the John Cooper Clarke poem, Burnley: "I'll tell you now and I'll tell you briefly, I don't never want to go to Keighley." However, many residents do not feel this way about the town and are proud of its history and character.

In 2003, ''The Idler'' magazine set up an online poll to decide which were the 50 worst places to live in Britain. The results were published in the book ''Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK''. Keighley came in at number 40. Keighley's local newspaper, the ''Keighley News'', reported the reaction of Councillor Andrew Mallinson, chairman of Keighley Town Centre Management Group: "On the positive side, it's nice to know that out of all the towns in the country, Keighley has got a mention! But on a serious note, as a group, we take any complaints or concerns seriously and are always striving to improve the town centre's image."

Politics

Keighley is represented in the House of Commons by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Kris Hopkins, who won the seat at the 2010 general election, taking over from Ann Cryer who had been in office since 1997.

Keighley was contested by the British National Party (BNP) in the May 2005 general elections when the party's leader Nick Griffin stood for Parliament. He was defeated by Ann Cryer, one of a small number of Labour MPs with an increased majority. In March 2006, the town's mayoress, Rose Thompson, announced she had joined the BNP.

In June 2006, the leader of Bradford District Council, Conservative Councillor Kris Hopkins, was quoted in the ''Craven Herald & Pioneer'' as suggesting it might be a good idea for Keighley to become an independent authority once again.

Keighley has had a town council since 2002.

A turf war between local drug gangs resulted in the murder of four Asian men in a five-and-a-half month period, from September 2001 to February 2002. Those killed were Yasser Hussain Nazir, Yasser Khan, Zaber Hussain and Qadir Ahmed. Qadir, was stabbed and beaten to death near Victoria Park after being ambushed and chased by rival gang members. The killings sparked a police investigation leading to the of a number of men who given long prison sentences.

Town twinning

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Poix-du-Nord, France Manzini, Swaziland

References

External links

Keighley Town Council

Category:Towns in West Yorkshire Category:Geography of Bradford Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Civil parishes in West Yorkshire

cy:Keighley de:Keighley eo:Keighley fr:Keighley it:Keighley nl:Keighley nn:Keighley pnb:کیگلے pl:Keighley ro:Keighley ru:Китли simple:Keighley

Geoff Keighley is a Canadian video game journalist. His work spans online, print, and TV outlets, and he has been writing about games since 1992.

He is the host and executive producer of the video game show ''GameTrailersTV'' (formerly known as Game Head). He was also one of the co-hosts of the now-defunct G4 show ''G4tv.com''. Keighley is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Kotaku, ''Business 2.0'', ''Official Xbox Magazine'', ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'', and ''Entertainment Weekly'', among others. As of January 2008, besides hosting ''GTTV'', Keighley can still be seen as a correspondent on another G4 show, ''The Electric Playground'', and his work can be read in monthly columns on the GameFly website. Keighley is also the executive producer of the Spike TV Video Game Awards.

He is known for not just writing reviews and previews, but going behind the scenes of the game industry for in-depth business profiles and lengthy feature pieces. In a July 2008 interview on ''The Jace Hall Show'', Keighley spoke about the importance of this process, stating "There's such a lack of investigative journalism. I wish I had more time to do more, sort of, investigation. Really dig into some of these bigger issues, so I could look at like, the 'Red Ring of Death' problem. That's never really been properly reported about, like what really happens." In 2005, GameDaily named him as the best journalist of the year, and in 2004 NewsBios.com named him one of the best 30 business journalists in the world under 30. He is also only one of two journalists, the other being ''60 Minutes'' correspondent Mike Wallace, profiled in the Harvard Business School press book "Geeks and Geezers" by noted leadership expert Warren Bennis.

In addition to GTTV, Keighley has had a hand in almost every other video game-related project on television. On Comcast’s G4 network, he appeared as the network’s lead anchor for its E3 press conference coverage, interviewing CEOs from companies like Sony and Electronic Arts. For MTV he created the concept and produced (with LivePlanet) “Gears of War: Race to E3” and “Gears of War: Race to Launch,” two high rated specials that took viewers inside the development of the hit Xbox 360 game from Microsoft. And in 2007, the Discovery Channel aired a landmark five-hour documentary about video games from World of Wonder Productions, based on a treatment by Keighley, who also served as consulting producer. Geoff has also hosted and co-produced a number of video game launch specials for Spike TV, including “Madden NFL 08 Kickoff” featuring a performance by Ozzy Osbourne and “Halo 3: Launched!” featuring a performance by Linkin Park.

In 2007, Keighley was interviewed on Larry Hryb's podcast, Major Nelson Radio "episode 218", in which Larry made reference to this Wikipedia entry in his show. He also was on "show 231" discussing E3, and "show 276" talking about the imminent GTA4 release. He was also interviewed on Fox News' controversial segment on ''Mass Effect'', and was later praised by gamers online for being the only one on the show who had actually played the game.

Some of his famous quotes include, "You've got the teams there, you've got the players, you've got the animations..." and, "Anything new?" These quotes are featured in interviews on GameStopTV on the store's network all over the country.

References

External links

Geoff's official site

Geoff's Twitter account

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Canadian television personalities Category:Video game critics Category:Canadian atheists

name	Ann Cryer
honorific-suffix	JP
office1	Member of Parliament for Keighley
predecessor1	Gary Waller
successor1	Kris Hopkins
term start1	1 May 1997
term end1	6 May 2010
birth date	December 14, 1939
birth place	Lytham St Annes, England
nationality	British
spouse	Widow
party	Labour
children	1 son John Cryer, 1 daughter Jane Cryer, 2 step children
alma mater	Bolton Institute of Technology
footnotes	}}

Constance Ann Cryer JP (born 14 December 1939) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Keighley from the 1997 general election up until she stood down at the 2010 general election. She became a Justice of the Peace in 1996 and a member of the Bradford Cathedral Council from 1999.

Early life

Born Constance Place in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, she comes from a political family: her father, Allen Place, was an activist in the Independent Labour Party and her grandmother was a leading suffragette. She was educated at the St John's Primary School in Darwen and the Spring Bank Secondary Modern School, Darwen, before attending the Bolton Institute of Technology.

She began her career working as a clerk with the Imperial Chemical Industries in 1955, moving to the General Post Office as an telephonist 1960 to 1964.

Cryer married Bob Cryer, later an MP, in 1963. She became a researcher in social history at the University of Essex in 1969 before becoming a full time personal assistant to her husband from 1974, when he first entered the domestic British parliament, until his death in a car accident on 12 April 1994.

Politics

Cryer was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist. This method of selection was subsequently ruled illegal in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws. Despite the ruling, the Labour party did not force candidates already chosen via this method (including Cryer) to seek re-selection.

Cryer was elected to the House of Commons for one of her husband's former constituencies, Keighley, at the 1997 General Election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Gary Waller by 7,132 votes and remained after the 2001 and 2005 general elections. She made her maiden speech on 16 May 1997.

After the 2005 General Election, Cryer was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Cryer has voted against the government on many occasions and was a member of the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group during her time in parliament. Although lately her left-wing orientation were called into question when Cryer voted with the government to increase detention without trial to 42 days for terror suspects. She favours nuclear disarmament and is viewed as being a Eurosceptic.

Cryer has attracted some media attention for speaking out against forced marriages, honour killings and calling on immigrants to learn to speak English before entering the country. She acquired a reputation for being somewhat insensitive to her constituents, which included a sizable immigrant population. Following controversy over the grooming of young girls by Asian men, Nick Griffin, the chairman of the far-right British National Party, stood against her in Keighley in the 2005 general election, coming fourth.

On 21 August 2008, Cryer announced that she would not contest the next general election, due to her health, energy levels and age.

Family

Cryer has a son— the MP John—and a daughter, and two step children from her second marriage in 2003 to the Rev. John Hammersley, who died a year later in 2004.

When she entered parliament in 1997 she was joined by her son, John Cryer who had been elected for Hornchurch; they formed the only mother and son partnership in the Commons at that time, though John Cryer was out of parliament during the 2005-10 period.

Wikipedia Controversy

Until 2009, Cryer's Wikipedia page contained information associating the invention of the Internet to her. This remained unchallenged for many years, causing Cryer to be forced to deny the assertion in the press .

Works

''Boldness be My Friend: Remembering Bob Cryer'' by Ann Cryer and John Cryer, 1997, Bradford Arts, Museums and Libraries Service, ISBN 0-907734-48-0

References

External links

Official Website

Guardian Unlimited Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Ann Cryer MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - Ann Cryer MP

The Public Whip - Ann Cryer MP voting record

BBC News Profile

Category:1939 births Category:Academics of the University of Essex Category:Alumni of the University of Bolton Category:Living people Category:People from Lytham St Annes Category:Politics of Bradford Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010

sv:Ann Cryer

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	Jack Straw
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
Leader	Harriet Harman
Term start	11 May 2010
Term end	7 October 2010
Successor	Position abolished
Office1	Shadow Secretary of State for JusticeShadow Lord Chancellor
Leader1	Harriet HarmanEd Miliband
Term start1	11 May 2010
Term end1	7 October 2010
Predecessor1	Dominic Grieve
Successor1	Sadiq Khan
Office2	Secretary of State for JusticeLord Chancellor
Primeminister2	Gordon Brown
Term start2	28 June 2007
Term end2	11 May 2010
Predecessor2	The Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Successor2	Kenneth Clarke
Office3	Leader of the House of CommonsLord Privy Seal
Primeminister3	Tony Blair
Term start3	5 May 2006
Term end3	27 June 2007
Predecessor3	Geoff Hoon
Successor3	Harriet Harman
Office4	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Primeminister4	Tony Blair
Term start4	8 June 2001
Term end4	5 May 2006
Predecessor4	Robin Cook
Successor4	Margaret Beckett
Office5	Home Secretary
Primeminister5	Tony Blair
Term start5	2 May 1997
Term end5	8 June 2001
Predecessor5	Michael Howard
Successor5	David Blunkett
Office6	Shadow Home Secretary
Leader6	Tony Blair
Term start6	22 July 1994
Term end6	2 May 1997
Predecessor6	Tony Blair
Successor6	Michael Howard
Office7	Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
Leader7	John Smith
Term start7	18 July 1992
Term end7	22 July 1994
Predecessor7	Bryan Gould
Successor7	Frank Dobson
Office8	Member of Parliament for Blackburn
Term start8	3 May 1979
Predecessor8	Barbara Castle
Majority8	9,856 (21.7%)
Birth date	August 03, 1946
Birth place	Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England
Party	Labour
Alma mater	University of LeedsInns of Court School of Law
Religion	Anglicanism
Spouse	Anthea Weston (m. 1968-1977)Alice Perkins (m. 1978-present)
Children	Daughter, son }}

John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn since 1979. He served as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 and Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons from 2006 to 2007 under Tony Blair. From 2007 to 2010 he was the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Secretary of State for Justice, appointed as part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. Straw is one of only three people to have served in Cabinet continuously from 1997 to 2010 (the others being Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling).

When the Labour Party lost power in May 2010, he briefly became the Shadow Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, but stood down from the frontbench after the Labour Party elected a new Shadow Cabinet.

Early life

Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England; one of his great-grandfathers was a German Jewish immigrant. Straw was brought up at Loughton, Essex by his mother, Joan Sylvia Gilbey on a council estate after his father Walter Arthur Whitaker Straw, an insurance salesman and the son of Arthur Whitaker Straw, left the family and condemned them to poverty. He was educated at Staples Road School, Loughton, and then boarded at Brentwood School, at that time a direct grant grammar school with largely LEA supported pupils, (where he was already expressing political ambitions and took the name "Jack", allegedly after the 14th century peasant leader Jack Straw—although "Jack" is a common diminutive of "John") and read law at the University of Leeds. While he was at Brentwood he opted out of the compulsory CCF (combined cadet force) on conscientious grounds.

Straw was elected chair of the Leeds University Labour Society at the 1966 Annual General Meeting, when the Society changed its name to Leeds University Socialist Society and withdrew its support from the Labour Party (a separate Labour Club was later formed by supporters of the Labour Party in Leeds University Union). When Straw disrupted a student trip to Chile, he was branded a "troublemaker acting with malice aforethought" by the Foreign Office. Straw was then elected president of Leeds University Union with the support of the Broad Left, a coalition including Liberal, Socialist (formerly Labour, see above) and the Communist Societies. The Leeds University Union Council recently reinstated Jack Straw's life membership of the union, as a previous motion had removed his life membership and led to the removal of his name from the Presidents’ Board owing to disagreement with his involvement in anti-terror legislation. At the National Union of Students conference at the end of 1967 he and David Adelstein, the Radicals leader from the London School of Economics, were defeated in their quest for officership in the NUS. That was repeated in April 1968 when Straw stood for NUS President and was defeated by Trevor Fisk. In 1969 he succeeded in being elected President of the increasingly radical National Union of Students, having led the campaign to remove the "no politics" clause from the NUS constitution.

He qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law and practised criminal law. From 1971 to 1974 Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. Straw contested Tonbridge and Malling constituency in Kent in the February 1974 general election. He served as political adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976 and then to Peter Shore at the Department for the Environment to 1977. He then worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series, ''World in Action''.

Member of Parliament

Straw was selected to stand for Parliament in Blackburn, Lancashire, Barbara Castle's seat, in 1977 after Castle decided not to stand again. He won the seat in 1979 and has held it since, also becoming honorary president of Blackburn Rovers. In the 1980s, he was an opposition spokesman on Treasury and economic affairs from 1980 to 1983, housing and local government from 1983 until promotion to the Shadow Cabinet in 1987.

Shadow Cabinet

Straw's first Shadow Cabinet post was as Education spokesman from 1987. In this role, he called on Local Education Authorities to give private Muslim and Orthodox Jewish schools the right to opt out of the state system and still receive public funds. He also stated that the schools should be free to enter the state system. His comments came at a time of great controversy regarding the funding of Muslim schools. Straw argued that the controversy arose out of ignorance and stereotyping about women's role in Islam, pointing out that Muslim women acquired property rights centuries before European women. Straw played a significant role in articulating the Labour Party's interest in and sensitivity to the issue.

Straw briefly served as Shadow Environment Secretary under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, speaking on matters concerning local government. When Tony Blair became leader after Smith's death, he chose Straw to succeed him as Shadow Home Secretary. Like Blair, Straw believed Labour's electoral chances had been damaged in the past by the party appearing to be "soft on crime" and he developed a reputation as being even more authoritarian than the Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard. Straw garnered particular attention for comments condemning "aggressive beggars, winos and squeegee merchants" and calling for a curfew on children.

Home Secretary

Appointed as Home Secretary after the 1997 general election, he brought forward the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, increased police powers against terrorism and proposed to remove the right to trial by jury in certain cases. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared 'I trust Jack Straw. He is a very fair man.' They were deemed excessively authoritarian by his former students' union, which in 2000 banned him from the building—a policy which lapsed in 2003. However, he also incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, finalising the ''de jure'' abolition of the death penalty, and pressed for action on institutionalised racism in the police revealed by the Stephen Lawrence case.

As Home Secretary, Straw was also involved in changing the electoral system for the European Parliament elections from plurality to proportional representation. In doing so, he advocated the use of d'Hondt formula as being the one that produces the most proportional outcomes. The d'Hondt formular, however, is less proportional to the Sainte-Laguë formula which was proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Straw later apologised to the House of Commons for his misleading comments, but the d'Hondt formula stayed in place.

In March 2000, Jack Straw was responsible for allowing General Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile. There were requests from several countries for Pinochet to be extradited and face trial for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.

Also in 2000, Straw turned down an asylum request from a man fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime, stating "we have faith in the integrity of the Iraqi judicial process and that you should have no concerns if you haven’t done anything wrong."

He was the last Home Secretary to have all the traditional powers of that office, as following the 2001 general election, the government began transferring all non-law and order responsibilities to other departments.

Foreign Secretary

He was instead appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001 to succeed Robin Cook. Within months Straw was confronted by the 11 September attacks in the United States. He was initially seen as taking a back seat to Tony Blair in the UK Government's prosecution of the "war against terrorism".

He caused controversy in 2002 when he erroneously referred to the Prime Minister as the Head of State.

In 2003 the US-UK Extradition Treaty was negotiated, considered by some to be one-sided because it allows the US to extradite British citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in Britain by a person living and working in Britain (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa. The treaty was implemented in the Extradition Act 2003, with the manner of its implementation also causing concern because of alleged secrecy and minimal parliamentary scrutiny.

In a letter to ''The Independent'' in 2004, he claimed that Trotskyists "can usually now be found in the City, appearing on quiz shows or ranting in certain national newspapers," and recommended ''"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder'' by Vladimir Lenin.

In the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, Jack Straw was personally informed months in advance of the plans for the takeover attempt and failed to accomplish the duty under international law of alerting the country's government. The involvement of British oil companies in the funding of the coup d'état, and the changing of British citizens evacuation plans for Equatorial Guinea before the attempt, posed serious challenges for the alleged ignorance of the situation. Later on, British officials and Jack Straw were forced to apologise to ''The Observer'' after categorically denying they had prior knowledge of the coup plot.

In the run up to the 2005 general election Straw faced a potential backlash from his Muslim constituents over the Iraq War – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC) attempted to capitalise on anti-war sentiment with 'operation Muslim vote' in Blackburn. In addition, Craig Murray, who had been pushed out of his job as ambassador to Uzbekistan, stood against his former boss (Straw was head of the FCO) on a platform opposing the use of information gathered under torture in the "War on Terror". Straw's vote fell by 20% compared to the previous general election in 2001 (21,808 to 17,562) although the multiplicity of anti-Straw candidates makes it difficult to discern whether this was a particularly poor result for Straw and Labour. The swing to the second placed Conservatives was less than 2%, much lower than the national average. In any event, Straw was re-elected, while Murray trailed a distant fifth - barely managing to scrape the 5% of the vote necessary to retain his deposit and polling fewer votes than the BNP. Speaking moments after his re-election during the BBC's election night coverage, Straw called MPAC an 'egregious group' and expressed disappointment at its campaign tactics, which he saw as overly aggressive. Straw enjoys a reputation for involved local campaigning in his constituency despite his cabinet post, often spending many hours in the run up to elections literally standing on a soapbox in a high street area taking questions from the crowd and responding to criticism with a microphone.

On 13 October 2005 Straw took questions from a public panel of (mostly anti-war) individuals in a BBC ''Newsnight'' television special on the subject of Iraq, addressing widespread public concerns about the exit strategy for British troops, the Iraqi insurgency and, inevitably, the moral legitimacy of the war. On several occasions Straw reiterated his position that the decision to invade was in his opinion the right thing to do, but said he did not 'know' for certain that this was the case. He said he understood why public opinion on several matters might differ from his own—a Newsnight/ICM poll showed over 70% of respondents believed the war in Iraq to have increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks in Britain, but Straw said he could not agree based on the information presented to him. In February 2006, Straw attracted publicity after he condemned the publication of cartoons picturing Mohammed in the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'', and in April 2006, reports of secret White House plans to target Iranian nuclear installations with bunker busting nuclear bombs was described by Jack Straw as "completely nuts".

In August 2006, it was claimed by William Rees-Mogg in ''The Times'' that there was evidence that Straw was removed from this post upon the request of the Bush administration, possibly owing to his expressed opposition to bombing Iran. This would be ironic, as Richard Ingrams in ''The Independent'' wondered whether Straw's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was also removed at Bush's request, allowing Straw to become Foreign Secretary in the first place. It has also been alleged that another factor in Straw's dismissal was the large number of Muslims amongst his Blackburn constituents, supposedly considered a cause for concern by the US. Some Iranian dissidents mocked Straw as "Ayatollah Straw" after his frequent visits to Tehran in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks.

Straw gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 21 January 2010, making him the second member of Tony Blair's cabinet to do so. He told the inquiry that the decision to go to war in Iraq had "haunted him" and that it was the "most difficult decision" of his life. He also said that he could have stopped the invasion, had he wanted to.

Leader of the House of Commons

After the Labour Party suffered major defeats in local elections on 4 May 2006, losing 317 seats in balloting for 176 councils, Tony Blair acted the following day with a major reshuffle of his ministers during which he moved Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Straw had apparently requested a break from high ministerial office after serving in two of the four great departments of state for nearly ten years. Straw's close relationship with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was said to have 'infuriated' Number 10, with particular reference to her visit to Straw's Blackburn constituency which caused significant organisational difficulties. It is believed that Straw's public opposition to potential military actions in Iran during his tenure as Foreign Secretary was one of the main reasons behind his demotion. To lessen the apparent demotion, Blair gave Straw responsibility for House of Lords reform and party funding, issues which had been part of the portfolio of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, Straw was given the chairmanship of the Constitutional Affairs cabinet committee where he was responsible for attempting to force through a flat-fee charge for Freedom of Information requests.

On 25 March 2007, Straw announced he was to run Gordon Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership. This was the first official confirmation the Chancellor would stand.

2006 debate over veils

In October 2006 Straw attracted controversy by suggesting to a local newspaper, ''The Lancashire Evening Telegraph'' (now ''The Lancashire Telegraph''), that Muslim women who wear veils that cover their faces (the ''niqab'') can inhibit inter-community relations, though he denied the issue was raised for political gain, stating that he had raised it in private circles in the past and it had never progressed beyond discussions. Although he did not support a law banning a woman's right to choose to wear the veil, he would like them to abandon it altogether. Asked whether he would prefer veils to be abolished completely, Straw said: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather." He said that he had asked women visiting his constituency surgeries to consider uncovering their noses and mouths in order to allow better communication. He claimed that no women had ever chosen to wear a full-veil after this request. However, given that he is known to suffer from tinnitus (which compromises the ability to hear), it is possible that he requested the veil to be removed so that he could lip-read the woman.

Straw's comments kicked off a wide-ranging and sometimes harshly worded debate within British politics and the media; Straw was supported by some establishment figures and castigated by others, including Muslim groups. There is an ongoing debate within the Muslim community whether the Qur'an and ''hadith'' (traditions of Muhammad) require the use of the full face veil. Jack Straw apologised for these comments regarding the veil on 26 April 2010 at a private hustings organised by Engage in the build up to the United Kingdom General Election, 2010.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Straw was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice on the first full day of Gordon Brown's ministry, 28 June 2007. He was the first Lord Chancellor since the sixteenth century to serve in the role whilst a member of the House of Commons. His appointment meant that he continued to be a major figure in the Labour Government. Only Straw, Brown and Alistair Darling served in the cabinet continuously during Labour's 13 year administration from 1997 to 2010. Straw represented the government on a controversial edition of Question Time on 22 October 2009, against British National Party leader Nick Griffin on his first ever appearance. Griffin's first comment was to attack Straw's father's wartime record, to general disdain. As Griffin claimed that European laws prevented him from explaining his stance on holocaust denial Straw later offered his personal assurance as Justice Secretary, which Griffin declined.

Alleged ambitions for premiership

When asked during an interview in February 2009 about becoming Prime Minister, Straw said: "If someone came and said "Sign on the dotted line", yes, I'd sign. But if you ask me have I yearned for it? No." When pressed further he responded: "I can honestly say I have no ambitions in that area." The Sun reported this with the headline: 'Straw: I'm ready for PM's job'.

Vetoing Freedom of Information Act requests

In February 2009, Straw used his authority as Justice Secretary to veto publication of government documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act: in particular, those pertaining to early government meetings concerning the (forthcoming) Iraq War.

Expenses claims

On checking his expenses claims prior to publication, Jack Straw found that he had over-claimed for four consecutive years as he had not spotted that he was actually paying 50% for council tax not the full amount. He duly voluntarily paid the amount back while adding in a handwritten note to the Commons authorities that "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit".

Retirement from front-bench politics

In August 2010, Straw announced his plans to quit his role as Shadow Justice Secretary and move to the backbenches, citing the need for a ‘fresh start’ for the Labour Party under a new leader.

In April 2011, Straw was appointed as a consultant to E. D. & F. Man Holdings Ltd., a British company based in London specialising in the production and trading of commodities including sugar, molasses, animal feed, tropical oils, biofuels, coffee and financial services. Commenting on his appointment to ED&F; Man on a salary of £30,000 per annum, Straw said, "There are 168 hours in the week, and I will work in Blackburn for a least 60 and maybe sleep for 50. Providing there’s no conflict, I have long taken the view that I am not against people doing other things. I had two jobs as a minister. I think it’s really important that politicians are involved with the outside world.”.

Pakistani men controversy

In January 2011, Straw provoked controversy with comments made on Newsnight about Pakistani men. He said "there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls." His comments came after two men of Pakistani origin were convicted of rape in Derby.

Personal life

Straw's first marriage, in 1968, to teacher Anthea Weston ended in divorce in 1977. They had a daughter, Rachel, born on 24 February 1976, who died after five days because of a heart defect.

In a legal case in which Straw's son was accused of selling illegal drugs, Straw was represented by solicitor Sir Geoffrey Bindman.

On 10 November 1978 he married Alice Perkins, a senior civil servant. In 2006 Straw's wife joined the board of the country's largest airports operator BAA, shortly before it was taken over by the Spanish firm Ferrovial.

Straw has tinnitus.

He supports his local football club Blackburn Rovers, and was made an Honorary Vice President of Blackburn Rovers in 1998 by Jack Walker.

His son, Will Straw, was president of the Oxford University Student Union, and a Fulbright Scholar. In 2009 he became a founding editor of the political blog, 'Left Foot Forward'

Straw's father, Walter Straw, was sent to prison in 1939 during part of World War II for being a conscientious objector.

Bibliography

Author or co-author

''Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998: Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 14 March 2001'' (2001) ISBN 0-10-442701-9

''Making Prisons Work: Prison Reform Trust Annual Lecture'' (1998) ISBN 0-946209-44-8

''Future of Policing and Criminal Justice (Institute of Police & Criminological Studies Occasional Paper S.)'' (1996) ISBN 1-86137-087-3

''Policy and Ideology'' (1993) ISBN 0-9521163-0-8

Reports

''Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976: Proposals for Change Submitted by the Commission for Racial Equality to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 30 April 1998'' (1998) ISBN 1-85442-210-3

Footnotes

External links

Blackburn Labour Party

Online exhibition of the May 1968 student protest in Leeds

Jack Straw, ''BBC News'', Newsnight, 17 October 2002

Category:1946 births Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:British Secretaries of State Category:British Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Category:English Anglicans Category:English barristers Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs Category:Leaders of the House of Commons Category:Living people Category:Lord Chancellors of Great Britain Category:Lords Privy Seal Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:NUS presidents Category:Old Brentwoods Category:People from Epping Forest (district) Category:People from Loughton Category:British people of Jewish descent Category:Politics of Blackburn Category:Presidents of the United Nations Security Council Category:Secretaries of State for the Home Department Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010– Category:Witnesses of the Iraq Inquiry

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